


Turning Out

by botanicalIntrovert



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Growing Up Together, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23541004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/botanicalIntrovert/pseuds/botanicalIntrovert
Summary: 0.010 percent.If you need to see it in a more comprehensible way, that number translates to 1 in 10,000. That number is what scientists have decided is the chance of finding your soulmate in this lifetime; but no need to be stressed, soulmates aren't real anyways. Another human being should never be able to fill a void in you like that, so its about time to just accept stone cold reality.( or in which Dirk Strider learns from a young age that Jake English just seems to have a way of breaking his pre-formed views on the world.)
Relationships: Jake English/Dirk Strider
Kudos: 9





	Turning Out

**Author's Note:**

> I have not written in 6 years so please excuse this if it is a bit bad! I'm trying to get back into the hobby and I figured I'd write out an idea me and a friend had! I will be adding more characters and tags as we go along, so don't you worry your pretty little heads, I promise your favorite asshole will most likely be in here!

0.010 percent.

If you need to see it in a more comprehensible way, that number translates to 1 in 10,000. That number is what scientists have decided is the chance of finding your soulmate in this lifetime; real sad right? You know what’s even sadder? Acknowledging that soulmates exist in the first place. Honestly, people just need to get over their idolization of fairytale romance and settle for the sad reality that we live in. 

At least, this is what Dirk thought for the first 9 years of his life. 

To be fair though, growing up with only a neglectful older brother and basically shouldering the care of his younger one would make any kid a realist with a pessimistic outlook on life. While all these other kids were dreaming about marrying princes and living happily forever after, Dirk was already hit with the harsh cold reality of the world; and that reality was that life sucks and one human being could never erase the horrors you face in your lifetime.

He was sure about this for 9 complete years ( give or take a few, lacking cognitive thought and all.). But, rolling into the tenth year, something began chipping away at those nasty, stone cold facts. Actually, it wasn't something, more like someone.

Jake English.

Black hair, basically bleached to a dark brown by the sun. The same sun having given him a deep caramel color to his skin, which ended up putting a nice contrast against his green eyes, which were only slightly obstructed by his bulky glasses.

Definitely gave off the vibe that he was born to be outdoors, in Dirks’ opinion.

He was a transfer student, the teacher explained as she stood him on display in front of their class. Born and raised on an Island off the shore of Australia, apparently his Grandmother owned the entire hunk of sand, Jake would inform the class at a later time. Why he ditched a literal Island paradise to come to a crappy school in Houston was beyond Dirk, but to each his own I guess. 

As soon as the teacher finished her introductory speech ( she had to have said this same speech at least 4 times now, did she have it memorized? ), she shooed Jake, who was smiling a wide and honest smile, to an empty seat. Said seat just happened to be across the table that Dirk was seated at; great. Dirk had purposely chosen this table in the back to avoid speaking to his classmates, but it seems the teacher didn’t get the memo. He clenched his teeth as the beaming boy made his way over, dropping his things on the table, not even caring about keeping the space in order as he slid in the chair opposite of Dirk. This, right here, was the moment Dirk decided he was never going to like this dude. The moment his stupid little frog pencil bag knocked into Dirks neatly arranged line of My Little Pony pencils, Dirk was out for blood. 

Blood being social rejection in this instance. 

Now, as Dirk himself was prone to social rejection in his everyday life; returning the favor was actually quite easy. Jake was quick to strike up conversation, his thick accent wedging itself into Dirks brain with each unprompted fact he gave up about himself. Apparently he was turning 11 at the end of the year, he liked bones and adventure movies, and wanted to plunder temples as a profession. An outrageous choice, but Dirk guessed it could be a real thing. Each fact was met with silence though, Dirk didn’t even bother to look up from his crappy horse drawing; his pencil still scraping along the paper. To most people this would be an obvious sign of, Hey, maybe this person really doesn’t wanna talk to my dumb ass. But apparently Jake took it as an invitation to keep blathering on about himself and his life. 

Of course. Lucky Dirk, huh.

The rest of the day continued on like this, Jake only stopping when the teacher shushed him for speaking during the lesson, which would be met with a nervous laugh and an apologetic smile from the islander. The only real break Dirk had gotten from the continuous chatter was when he managed to slip away from the boy during lunch, hiding away at the teachers’ side for the remainder of the time. Recess was even worse, because with each new place Dirk tried to hide away in, Jake would be right there; talking away without a care in the world. His voice was basically branded into Dirks’ head by the end of the day, and he was pretty sure that he started graying prematurely out of stress. 

So when the time came for everyone to make their way out the door, Dirk could literally hear the angels singing. He had never been religious, but he could just thank whatever fucked up god was out there for ending his suffering. The gross smell of his apartment was like a dream to him right now, if he were to be honest. And boy was he ready to get the hell on to that trashy bus, and ride away to his smelly castle. The Prince is coming home, baby. 

But just as he was about to climb the stairs onto his carriage of garbage, he felt a hand grip his wrist. Oh come on, dude. Dirk couldn’t help the frustrated groan that fell out of his mouth, his body twisting around to see, surprise surprise, Jake English standing there; having the audacity to smile sweetly after just pulling Dirk away from his Hail Mary. Dirk rose his brow, eyes narrowing in on the other.

“ I uh-” Jake cleared his throat; His smile now became a bit shaky.

He loosended his grip on Dirk, his hand shooting into his pocket of his dumb cargo-shorts, fishing for something. His eyes lit up behind their frames as he found the object he was searching for, pulling it out with a closed fist and pulling Dirks own hand out to drop the item into his hand.

It was a rock.

Dirk furrowed his brow.

Jake, having noticed Dirks’ put off look, flickered his eyes down to the stone; a quick ‘ Oh wait’ was rushed out before Jake flipped the stone over to reveal the other side. Okay, maybe it wasn’t just a rock. The Geode in his hand held a vibrant orange tone, the center crystalized with a soft yellow. Dirk found himself enamoured with the item, his other hand coming up to run his fingertips along the raised ridges along the inside. 

“ I saw it while we were at recess and it reminded me of you! “ He said in a chipper tone, his smile basically breaking his face. 

Dirk raised an eyebrow in confusion. How did this stone ever remind Jake of him? Jake hadn’t even known him for a full day and during that day, hadn’t even been able to get a single word out of Dirk. Jake, actually having the decency to clarify his vague sentence, pointed at his own eyes. What was that supposed to-?

Oh. The geode reminded Jake of Dirks’ eyes. 

Huh.

“ Thank you, by the way. “ Jakes’ smile lost a bit of its curve, his mouth forming a nervous quirk of the lips now. “ I wasn’t too sure about coming to public school, my gran’ has schooled me from home up until now and I thought I wouldn’t be able to find a pal to buddy around with, but low and behold I met you! “ His lips curved back into a genuine smile again. He has an overbite, Dirk noticed as he stared in stunned silence at Jake, this fact should have made Dirk grimace, but; he didn’t. 

Dirk was knocked out of his stupor by a shout from the driver, he had been holding up the bus for a few minutes now, apparently. He gave the older man a brief apology before turning back to see Jake already stepping away, his leg bouncing ( Nerves, Dirk now noticed, he was nervous. ) and his hands gripping onto his bags shoulder straps. “ I’ll see you tomorrow, Strider! “ He called out, as Dirk made his way more onto the bus. Turning away and letting Dirk actually get a good view of his dumb ( not so dumb ) Tomb Raider bag, as he wondered off to what Dirk assumed was the parent pick-up area.

Dirk wondered back to a seat, still in a slight haze. As soon as he managed to slide himself onto the hot plastic seat, he placed his head against the window. Thinking over just how weird the day was. He could not have been the only person subjected to Jakes’ boisterous attitude, had he? Thinking back over the events of the day, he couldn’t actually recall a single time that Jake had not been by his side, or even seen him speak to one of their other classmates. This definitely put more questions than answers into Dirks’ head, and there was no doubt that his own brain would be working overtime to try and compute why Jake had taken a liking to him of all people. 

His thoughts continued like this for the rest of the ride to his home, the only thing keeping him from completely overloading his brain was the reassuring feel of the cool geode in his hand. 

Maybe he would have to rethink his ‘ stone cold facts’ about life. Because it sure felt like there may be a crack in some of the rock.


End file.
